Wednesday, 3 November 2021

Fans singing the Blues

 

Football supporters poured into stadiums across the country after a lengthy absence due to covid restrictions. Chelsea have been steadily gathering momentum and are sitting at top after 10 weeks of action, followed by Liverpool, Manchester City and West Ham United.

Week 1 – Brentford began life in the Premier League in the opening match of the season on Friday evening with a 2-0 home win over Arsenal while on Saturday in the early kick-off, Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick as Manchester United battered Leeds United 5-1 at Old Trafford. Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace 3-0 at Stamford Bridge and Liverpool enjoyed the same result at Norwich while Everton came from behind to win 3-1 at home to Southampton. Aston Villa pulled 2 goals back but lost 3-2 at Watford while Brighton put an early setback behind them to win 2-1 at Burnley and Wolves fell to a single goal at Leicester. On Sunday, West Ham United turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 victory at Newcastle and champions Manchester City lost 1-0 at Tottenham.

Week 2 – Manchester City got back to winning ways in front of their home crowd with a 5-0 thumping of Norwich City while there were 2-0 home wins for Liverpool, Aston Villa and Brighton against Burnley, Newcastle and Watford respectively. Everton twice took the lead but drew 2-2 at Leeds while Brentford played a goalless match at Crystal Palace and on Sunday Arsenal suffered a 2-0 loss at home to Chelsea while Tottenham were 1-0 winners at Wolves and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Southampton. On Monday evening Michail Antonio netted a brace as 10-man Leicester were pummelled 4-1 at West Ham.

Week 3 – Ten-man Arsenal were humiliated 5-0 at Manchester City with Ferran Torres netting twice for the champions while Chelsea, who were also reduced to 10 players, drew 1-1 at Liverpool and there was a 1-1draw between Aston Villa and Brentford with both goals coming in the first 15 minutes. Conor Gallagher struck twice for Crystal Palace who drew 2-2 at West Ham while Southampton Converted a penalty deep into stoppage time to draw 2-2 at Newcastle and Leicester were 2-1 winners at Norwich. Brighton lost 2-0 at home to Everton while on Sunday Leeds drew 1-1 at Burnley and there were 1-0 wins for Manchester United at Wolves and Tottenham at home to Watford.

Week 4 - Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on his return to Manchester United as the Red Devils swept Newcastle aside 4-1 at Old Trafford while 10-man Tottenham lost 3-0 at Crystal Palace and Arsenal scored their first goal of the season to win at home to Norwich. Manchester City were 1-0 winners at Leicester and Brighton achieved the same result with a last-minute winner at Brentford while West Ham, who ended the match with 10 players, drew 0-0 at Southampton. A double from Romelu Lukaku helped Chelsea to a 3-0 home win over Aston Villa while on Sunday 10-man Leeds lost 3-0 at home to Liverpool and on Monday evening Everton fell behind but struck back with 3 goals in quick succession to win 3-1 at home to Burnley.

Week 5 – On Friday evening Newcastle and Leeds drew 1-1 while on Saturday 10-man Brentford held onto a 2-0 win at Wolves and Liverpool were 3-0 winners at home to Crystal Palace. A double from Ismaila Sarr helped Watford to a 3-1 win at Norwich while a single goal gave Arsenal 3 points at Burnley and Manchester City drew blanks at home to Southampton.           Everton lost 3-0 at Aston Villa while on Sunday Tottenham were 3-0 losers at home to Chelsea and Leicester lost 2-1 at Brighton. Manchester United scored a last-minute 2-1 winner as hosts West Ham United missed the chance to level from the spot in stoppage time.

Week 6 – Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge while Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa with a last-minute penalty miss denying them a draw and in a thrilling match at Griffin Park Liverpool drew 3-3 with Brentford. West Ham came from behind to win 2-1 with a last-minute goal at Leeds while an own goal and brace from Jamie Vardy saw Leicester City draw 2-2 at home to Burnley and there was a 1-1 draw between Watford and Newcastle. Everton were the only home side to win on Saturday as they put 2 past Norwich while on Sunday Arsenal blitzed into a 3-0 lead on their way to beating Tottenham 3-1 at the Emirates to go above them in the table and Southampton lost 1-0 at home to Wolves. On Monday evening Brighton scored deep into stoppage time to draw 1-1 at Crystal Palace.

Week 7 – Everton drew 1-1 at Manchester United while Chelsea scored 2 late goals to win 3-1 at home to 10-man Southampton and Newcastle lost 2-1 at Wolves with Hee-Chan Hwang netting twice for the hosts. A single goal gave Leeds United a home win against Watford and there were goalless draws for Burnley and Brighton at home to Norwich and Arsenal respectively while in the big match on Sunday, Manchester City twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Liverpool. Crystal Palace came from 2 down to draw 2-2 at home to Leicester and there were 2-1 wins for Tottenham at home to Aston Villa and Brentford at West Ham United with the winning goal coming deep into stoppage time.

Week 8 – Roberto Firmino claimed a hat-trick as Liverpool walloped Watford 5-0 at Vicarage Road while Wolverhampton Wanderers came from 2 down to win at Aston Villa with 3 goals in the last 10 minutes and in a thrilling match at Leicester City, Manchester United were beaten 4-2 while Manchester City were 2-0 winners at home to Burnley. There were 1-0 wins for Chelsea at Brentford and Southampton at home to Leeds United while Norwich and Brighton drew blanks at Carrow Road. On Sunday, in front of their new owners, Newcastle United got off to a flying start, but lost 3-2 to Tottenham and ended the match with 10 players while West Ham triumphed 1-0 at Everton and on Monday evening Arsenal, who took an early lead, made it 2-2 with the last kick of the match at home to Crystal Palace.

Week 9 – The weekend’s matches began on Friday evening with a 3-1 home win for Arsenal over Aston Villa. On Saturday Mason Mount netted a hat-trick as Chelsea ran riot at the Bridge putting 7 past Norwich while Joshua King also scored a hat-trick to help Watford bounce back from an early setback to win 5-2 at Everton and Phil Foden scored twice in Manchester City’s 4-1 win at Brighton. Maxwel Cornet scored both goals for Burnley who drew 2-2 at Southampton while Leeds United needed a last-minute penalty to draw 1-1 at home to Wolves and Newcastle earned the same result at Crystal Palace. On Sunday, Mohamed Salah claimed a hat-trick as Liverpool demolished Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford with the Red Devils being reduced to 10 players after the 5th goal while West Ham were 1-0 winners at home to Tottenham and Leicester won 2-1 at Brentford.

Week 10 – Brighton & Hove Albion fought from 2 down to draw 2-2 at Liverpool while Crystal Palace took an early lead and went on to win 2-0 at Manchester City, who were reduced to 10 players for half the match, and 2 early goals gave Arsenal a win at Leicester. Reece James scored twice as Chelsea won 3-0 at Newcastle while Burnley picked up a 3-1 home win against Brentford and Southampton were 1-0 winners at Watford. Tottenham’s 3-0 loss at home to Manchester United led to the dismissal of manager Nuno Espirito Santo and on Sunday 3 second-half goals in the space of 4 minutes, resulted in a 2-1 win for Leeds at Norwich while 10-man Aston Villa were hammered 4-1 at home to West Ham United. On Monday evening, Everton lost 2-1 at Wolves.

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